Temple Mountain at the heart of the San Rafael Swell. Picture by Mary.
Mary is taking some really cool tree shots lately.
So, despite having a motorized beast on the back of our truck, we quickly left The Swell because there were so many ATV/Moto chuckleheads ripping around. Our hope was that they would all be leaving late Sunday, but most seemed to be planning on a Monday holiday too. It looked like a trailer park, because apparently folks can't camp anymore without a TV, AC, or a DVD. Gone are campfires and tents in favor of all the comforts of home. And, gone too is the experience, ya know, camping?
And camp we did. After driving 50 miles out of the way for gas (man I love Utah) we headed up and over some pretty tall mountains to drop into 3 awesome little towns near the entrance of Capitol Reef Nat. Park. Bicknal, Loa, and my favorite, Torrey UT were in a line as we dropped back down towards the cliffs of Capitol Reef. We found a perfect campsite nestled in some rocks which sheltered us from the wind. It was a darn cold night, but our new two person bag works perfectly and can even fit a Gustifson if needed.
Sunrise turned the cliffs pink as pink can be.
Before breakfast Gus and I headed up a trail near camp. I was quickly in heaven as I realized it was an old mining trail blasted into the rock. I was having dreams of someday riding my bike down it and connecting to this trail by way of the distant slick rock I could see in this far away view, pictured below.
We drove through Capitol Reef like good tourists and even stopped at the visitor center and some marked view points, like "The Goose Necks" below.
It was quite a good trip and we packed a lot into only 1.5 days off. We for sure will be going back. There is a lot of rock out there to explore.
Sunrise turned the cliffs pink as pink can be.
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